The pain of watching Jack Campbell collapse helplessly on the Ford Field turf Sunday has not completely subsided for the Detroit Lions. It certainly is not forgotten by teammates on defense that spent those horrible moments wiping away tears as their captain lay motionless with a neck injury.
But four days later, following Campbell’s mostly positive report about having lower body motion, the focus has shifted to how to continue handling the situation.
The prayers persist. That hasn’t stopped.
But the anguish, despair and despondency are yielding to something different. Something better:
Inspiration.
“You’re kidding yourself to say it’s not hard for the players to see something like that happen to anyone, let alone a player of his stature, of his makeup, of his heart,” Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said on Thursday. “And to think these players are going to walk back in here like nothing happened?
“So the theme has been, let’s prepare and play like 46 – every day.”
Sheppard said a key fourth-down calls he made toward the end of Sunday’s game was calling a blitz against the Minnesota Vikings when that is not typical for the Lions. He said the message to players then was, “we’re about to do this for 46,” which is Campbell’s number.
That approach has extended through this week.
“I wake up [thinking] ‘what would 46 want me to do today?’ Sheppard said. “Would he want us to sulk and feel sorry? I can guarantee you, y’all know Jack, absolutely not. He’d be p—ed off if he found out guys were crying and guys were about him. That’s just his makeup.
“So that’s what we’re doing in everything we do. Every meeting I told the unit, every walkthrough, every play, you all know how Jack prepares. You all know how he plays. The way you honor him is to wipe those tears from your eyes and make sure we prepare and play like him.
“So that’s the thing moving forward to this week.”
This is good coaching.
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Sheppard cannot deny the emotions his players invested on the scary and uncertain moments while Campbell was being placed on a immobilization board and carted off the field.
But the NFL season has not stopped since the game moved ahead. And like the game, the season continues for the Lions.
And so Sheppard is asking his defensive players to accept something horrible, acknowledge it, and not only overcome it but turn it into a tool.
“That is,” Sheppard repeated “the theme for the week.”